Author Collection

By: Hugh Lofting (1886-1947)

The delightfully eccentric Doctor Dolittle, rendered immortal on screen by the gifted Rex Harrison, has remained a firm favorite with generations of children ever since he made his debut in an earlier novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle.
In his second outing titledThe Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, the maverick physician takes on a new assistant, Tommy Stubbins. The story is structured as a first person account given by Tommy, who is now a very old man. The boy who was the son of the village cobbler first meets Doctor Dolittle when he takes a hurt squirrel to the doctor for treatment...

An adventurous children’s novel, The Story of Doctor Dolittle is the first book in the Doctor Dolittle series. The novel depicts the many adventures of Dr. John Dolittle as he learns the language of animals and takes on various feats including exotic travel, a dangerous encounter with pirates, and a mission to set right from wrong.
The novel begins with the introduction of Dr. John Dolittle, an animal lover and respected physician, who lives in the small English town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh with his unmarried sister...

John Dolittle, M. D., was once a famous doctor. But then he learned to talk Animal-Language, picked up several interesting pets, and gradually began to lose his patients. Finally the only patient who remains, the Cat's-Meat-Man, makes a suggestion - why doesn't he give up treating people and become an animal doctor?
And so Dr. Dolittle becomes an animal doctor, and life seems to be going well. But with the addition of an escaped crocodile to his store of pets, even the animals stop coming to see him...

This is the original book about the amazing Dr. Dolittle who "Besides the gold-fish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet and a hedgehog in the cellar." In it, the kind hearted dreamer learns he likes animals better than humans; is introduced to animal speech by his parrot, Polynesea; becomes very poor; travels to Africa and has many adventures with his animal friends. And they are indeed friends.

Doctor Dolittle and his friends travel to South America to meet the greatest naturalist in the New World.
A note to listeners: This book was written in a different time, and as such, contains language and sentiments that are offensive to modern sensibilities.